Can We?
by lauraxtennant
Summary: Oneshot. The part-human Doctor has a question for Rose.


_A/N: Oneshot. The part-human Doctor has a question for Rose. Set in their house, years after Journey's End, and assumes that they were able to grow their own TARDIS, from that bit of coral the other Doctor gave them in the deleted scene._

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><p><em>Can We?<em>

He reaches for her hand and pulls her into his lap, cuddling her close to his chest. She happily goes along with it, and snuggles into him, feeling her eyes start to droop in the comfort of his embrace, hearing his heart beating against her ear...

Hang on, she thinks. She's suddenly more awake. "Doctor?"

"Yeah?" he replies, sounding nervous.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Your heart's beating really fast," she points out, starting to sit up. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he insists with wide, innocent eyes.

Her hand finds his and squeezes reassuringly. "Doctor, whatever it is, you can tell me, alright? What's happened?"

"Nothing's happened, I..." he trails off, looking helpless and averting his eyes from hers. He stares at their joined hands for the longest time, and Rose waits patiently for him to continue. Finally, he lets out a long breath and meets her gaze again, and he looks so scared that all she wants to do is hold him. But he opens his mouth to speak, so she refrains, and listens.

"Rose, there's something I...I think I..." he huffs in frustration at himself. "Listen, I love what we have, our life – I love _you, _more than anything – but I...see, I've been thinking..."

Now Rose suspects her expression is just as fearful. She's terrified he's going to say something stupid like he needs to get away from her for a bit or something. She's terrified he's abruptly decided how boring life is with one person.

She's terrified he's leaving.

"Doctor?" she urges him to carry on, in a small, scared voice.

His free hand cups her cheek. "You can say no, Rose, if you don't want to, and I'll say nothing more about it, because I love you and I want you to be happy, but..."

She sighs in relief. Now she thinks his request might just be something...sexual...in which case, sure, she's up for anything with him.

"Just say it, Doctor," she tells him firmly. "It can't be that weird. Whatever it is you want us to try, I'll give it a go."

He stares deeply into her eyes and murmurs, very, very quietly, "Can we have a baby?"

Rose blinks silently for a moment, completely dumbfounded. "Sorry, what?"

He clears his throat. "You and me," he clarifies softly, "can we make a baby together?"

"Is it biologically possible for us?" Rose checks, because she's so shocked that she can only concentrate on the mechanics of things for now, rather than the implications of pregnancy and children and _domestic._

He looks surprised that she's asked that. "Um...yeah, I think so. I mean, we could try...if not, I could attempt a bit of tinkering with our genes and things..."

Rose shakes her head absently, thinking that she's not letting him anywhere near her genes with the sonic screwdriver.

"You...you really want a baby?" she murmurs in disbelief.

The Doctor nods apprehensively, and strokes a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I started thinking about it last year, when we looked after Celia's little girl for a couple of weeks while she was in Moscow."

"Why've you not said sooner?" Rose wonders.

He shrugs bashfully. "Been thinking it over, you know? Weighing up the pros and cons. Trying to imagine what you might say if I told you. That sort of thing."

"Right," Rose breathes out roughly. "Sorry," she quickly apologises, realising that her reaction must be quite worrying for him. "I just never thought you'd want this..."

"Neither did I," he replies honestly. "I mean, I'd never have been opposed to it if it'd happened before, by accident, but I never consciously considered it being you know, _on purpose. _Until last year."

Rose bites her lip. "Tell me the cons you've thought of."

"Surely the pros are more - "

" – tell me the cons. I'm guessing it's a shorter list, if you've decided you want this," she points out gently.

He coughs awkwardly. "Right. Well. Obviously, we'd have to reduce the amount of trouble we get into..."

"To zero," Rose interjects. "I'm not putting my baby at risk. Can you really do that, Doctor? Stay out of trouble? Slow down on the running? Live here more permanently, so that he or she can get into that good school down the road, make friends and be a normal kid?"

He swallows thickly. "Yes," he answers firmly. "We've lived this life of flitting about here, there and everywhere, for ten years, Rose. You're not getting any younger, so if we want to have kids, we've got to do it now - "

"Oi!" she exclaims, smacking his arm. "I'm _thirty-four. _That is _not _old, thanks very much!"

"And we'll still have the TARDIS," he continues, as if she hasn't interrupted him. "When they're older, we can take the kids to see all the wonderful – safe – places in the universe. And we can pass on our legacy and they can inherit the TARDIS and - "

"- Hang on, you said: baby. Singular. Now you're saying: kids. Plural."

He smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, well...he or she will want company..."

Rose raises her eyebrows. "Right. Okay. So! Any other cons?"

He sighs and nods gravely, as if what he's about to say is the most devastating thing in the universe. "I won't be able to spontaneously shag you wherever we are."

She starts to giggle. "Now _that _I will miss," she laughs. Then, she shrugs. "Still...no babies yet. We can do lots of spontaneous shagging across the universe while we try and make them."

"You mean..." his eyes light up in hope.

"Doctor," she whispers. "Tell me the pros."


End file.
